View Poll Results: How often do you attempt to backup your Playbook?

Voters
48. You may not vote on this poll
  • Once per day

    0 0%
  • More than once per day

    1 2.08%
  • Once per week

    16 33.33%
  • Once per month

    15 31.25%
  • I never backup my Playbook!

    16 33.33%
  1. thinkofitnow's Avatar
    I originally replied to a thread labeled: Playbook backup of Application Data Fails at ~99%. In my original reply, I found that I had some common denominators with many many others reporting the same issue. Here are some things I had in common with everyone else posting to the thread:
    -If a 'full backup' was chosen, the backup would get to 99% & then fail with the error "THERE WAS AN ERROR BACKING UP" There could have been a problem with the device or connection during the backup. Verify that the device is turned on & connected.
    -If a 'custom' backup was chosen, the Application Data section shows Zero entries, and Size=0 bytes, even though there might be hundreds of applications installed & are able to be successfully opened & used. A subsequent attempt at running a backup also fails, resulting in the identical error as shown above.
    -Merely deleting the suspected application(s) since the last successful backup does not re-enable the Playbook's ability to run a backup.
    -Performing a security wipe of the device & then restoring from a previous full backup does restore the Playbook's ability to perform backups.
    -Since I've already figured out that the Playbook backup will fail whenever the Application data equals zero, the first place I went after installing and testing each of the app was to check in the desktop manager\device options\backup\custom\ & took a look at the entries & size of the application data. If it reads that I have size & entries, I assume that the app in question is a 'good' app (insofar as it does not cause the Playbook backups to fail).
    -I would then attempt a backup. Slowly but surely, I was able to successfully backup the device more than 50 times. However, when after installing specific apps, immediately it would cause my Playbook to report Application Data (0 entries & 0kb size), which would then cause my backup to fail.
    -So, I'm now starting to compile a list of 'good' apps which do not cause my Playbook to fail. I'm frustrated with this because you would think that RIM would test the apps before release to ensure that the app will not cause the Playbook Application data to read zero, causing backup failure.
    Here is my current list of 'good' apps:
    • guitar playbook halapino timer glimpse gemclix geekpeek soundboard floorplan flash games fix)it doodleblast dice roller device info dart scorer comics creator classical kusc playbook chess checkers chatmosphere chat for facebook pro camera timer bullseye bubble mech bubble birds bowling at doodle lanes blackout news billable hours backgammon battery guru 2945
    • antair nightstand air browser activity Log Pro for BB PB estimator front runner hunted forever hdb converter learn german magellan compass mahjong legends make'm laugh mirrorHD movieFLVplayer my filemanager my shopping list MyBestShot facewarp iSpeech Translator forum for BB my travel diary nebula neon madness news 360 passwords etc. gameshow soundboard facebook chess orb launcher phone remote for bb pb photo note
    • pipeline pro pocket bartender power pong duel poynt printtool private eye pyramix raise the stakes poker clock rdm+ animal sounds reddvin reel portal relaxing tunes resolution diary rich pix ruler rocket storm scientific calculator scrapbook scratchpad wordstone rigid digital bubble level speak it for bb pb talk clock touchup pro visual survival guide web programming guide webmasters wallet what's up wikipedia quick launcher
    • drama fireplace fire for bb pb mazeball multi unit converter onboard neon bounce popets papa's burgeria pow pool screamager qr scanner qr code reader gravitee wars gravitee burst aqualux cop lights hd sketch book police scanner password wallet Blackjack DeadSpace PrivateEyePro Java Programming Camera Timer

    I hope that this list starts to help. If you could all contribute through testing as I have, we can find the 'offending' apps & get this fixed! Attached are a couple of screenshots showing the error, and where application data = zero
    louzer and BSFA2008 like this.
    08-23-11 09:22 AM
  2. louzer's Avatar
    When I selected Custom Backup with my Playbook connected I waited for the list of 'custom data' to be populated. An error message in red appeared that said something like "Unable to load backup data for device" (I was not prepared for this and was not able to get a screen capture). After about 30 seconds, though, it disappeared and the list of Apps, Media, and Settings appeared. Next to Apps, it listed a count of 125 with a size around 4.5gb.

    When I select all three (Apps, Media, and Settings) and click backup, a dialog box appears saying that it's preparing to backup and the progress bar moves. When I check the folder that I specified for my backup, no file is created. Then I receive the same error that you posted in your first image.

    When I checked just Media and Settings, a dialog box appears saying that it's preparing to backup and the progress bar moves. After a couple of minutes, it says that it's backing up. When I check the folder the backup file is to be written to, I see that the process has created a temp file sized at what the DM is telling me the backup will be and a .bbb file that's growing as the backup occurs. My Settings and Media are backup up right now.

    It appears that the App data is causing the problem as you indicated, however, I don't have a '0' for my app count.

    I have only 18 apps that coincide with your list of 'good apps' and it's going to be a huge chore to identify 1 by 1 the apps that are 'good'. I think it would be really useful to list the 'bad' apps in this thread too. That way, if someone has only 1 of the 'bad' apps and a bunch of apps not in your list, and their backup works, it's easier for them to list the apps that made the backup and verify the bad app.

    I assume that since this thread was created on 8/23 and it's now 9/12, people either did not see this thread, or it isn't an issue for most. So it might be useful for people who are having success backing up to list the apps that they have on their devices that are backing up correctly.

    My last question is if people having trouble backing up app data have any apps that are asking for to be updated but you haven't gotten around to it. This one is just a shot in the dark.
    09-12-11 11:46 AM
  3. louzer's Avatar
    I think I'm making some headway.

    When I tried to do a Custom Backup, I found the following in the Desktop.log:

    13:05:06.784|DEBUG|54|Rim.Desktop.Services.Control ChannelWebClient|0|WebClient ENTERING SendCommand() - Command: BackupEnd
    13:05:07.224|DEBUG|54|Rim.Desktop.Services.Control ChannelWebClient|0|WebClient EXITING SendCommand()
    13:05:07.224|ERROR|54|Rim.Desktop.Services.Device| 0|[Rim:esktop::Services::RichmondDevice::BackupRestore::R ichmondBackupRestoreDeviceService::BackupDeviceInt ernal] BackupRestoreException during Backup: RichmondBackupRestoreDeviceService::BackupDeviceIn ternal - (BackupStart) Total Size not provided
    - Error ID: Unknown
    - Description: Unknown
    13:05:07.225|ERROR|54|Rim.Desktop.BackupRestore|0| Backup exception: BackupRestore detail error = DeviceErrorInvalidProtocol, message: RichmondBackupRestoreDeviceService::BackupDeviceIn ternal - (BackupStart) Total Size not provided- Error ID: Unknown
    - Description: Unknown

    Since the DM was reporting a count of 125, I decided to do some accounting. I'll recount after I finish this post, but here's what I found:

    Total of all Icons on 'All' tab of homescreen: 124

    Next I'm going to count the number of apps in the 'My Apps' area in App World as well as the number of homescreen icons that are delivered with the Playbook. I'm betting that the sum of those two is not 125 either. I'll report back later.
    irsan likes this.
    09-12-11 12:47 PM
  4. louzer's Avatar
    Plus, if thinkofitnow could post the names of apps that, when reinstalled, brought the app count in DM back to zero.
    09-12-11 01:02 PM
  5. louzer's Avatar
    Also, given the lack of activity in this thread, I assume that people have either a) given up trying to backup until the next update or b) there are just a handful of apps that cause this problem so that people who don't have these 'bad' apps are backing up with no problem.

    If b) is the case, it would be really useful for people who are having success backing up their app data to post which apps they have installed. This would make the 'good' app list grow quicker than relying on people needing to delete/backup/reinstall one app at a time.

    I'm continuing to troubleshoot this, but any list of apps that are not a problem for the backup utility would greatly reduce the troubleshooting time.
    09-12-11 01:06 PM
  6. louzer's Avatar
    Plus, if thinkofitnow could post the names of apps that, when reinstalled, brought the app count in DM back to zero.
    09-12-11 05:02 PM
  7. Darlaten's Avatar
    Also, given the lack of activity in this thread, I assume that people have either a) given up trying to backup until the next update
    Im in that camp - I've simply given up trying to backup the unit - haven't been able to do so since launch date in regards to the application data.
    09-12-11 10:27 PM
  8. louzer's Avatar
    Im in that camp - I've simply given up trying to backup the unit - haven't been able to do so since launch date in regards to the application data.
    Did you try to do a backup before you installed any apps and it failed? If not and you did install apps, can you remember which apps you installed before your first attempt? That would be very useful information.
    09-12-11 11:29 PM
  9. Darlaten's Avatar
    Sadly, with over 94 apps on my device, I don't remember which ones that I initially started with. Is there to sort the app list on My World by installation date? If so, that information might be useful as to try and track down which were the earliest ones installed as, presumably, in my case, since I have never been able to back up properly, it would have to be one of those. Now, I wish I didn't reorder my apps manually in the All Folder Tab as that would at least been useful.
    09-12-11 11:54 PM
  10. Slabs1960's Avatar
    Im in that camp - I've simply given up trying to backup the unit - haven't been able to do so since launch date in regards to the application data.
    In the same camp...given up until an update hopefully fixes the problem.
    09-13-11 10:25 AM
  11. JDukeOSBB's Avatar
    It is related to certain apps I can say that for sure. I was having issues backing up my Playbook. I wanted to do a security wipe (just because), but did not want to lose my game data...so I attempted a backup and it failed. I then deleted all the apps on my Playbook except for the games that had data saved that I needed to recover, and then the backup worked, so I am unsure which apps cause the problem, but it is only a few apps that seem to cause the problem.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    09-13-11 11:41 AM
  12. louzer's Avatar
    It is related to certain apps I can say that for sure. I was having issues backing up my Playbook. I wanted to do a security wipe (just because), but did not want to lose my game data...so I attempted a backup and it failed. I then deleted all the apps on my Playbook except for the games that had data saved that I needed to recover, and then the backup worked, so I am unsure which apps cause the problem, but it is only a few apps that seem to cause the problem.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    That's interesting because the OP said that deleting the apps did not fix anything in terms of backup.

    What I'm seeing now is DM telling me I have 125 apps but I only have 124. I'm beginning to think the problem is with some sort of app registry that got corrupted. At the beginning, when I would get update notifications for an app, using App World to update left me with 2 icons on my homescreen. To fix this, I would manually delete the older one (higher up in the list of apps) from my homescreen by holding the icon and touching the trash icon. I think that deleting apps that way might not do the same thing as doing a delete From App World because there would be no corresponding app left to send to App World's Uninstalled tab.

    If App World had a way to display install date and update date, thos would be a lot simpler. I forget which apps did this, but I'm willing to bet this is the culprit. I just forget which apps did this.
    09-13-11 01:40 PM
  13. FF22's Avatar
    I have not backed up in a while and am going to try doing it now. Will report back....

    Interesting. I can't get backup to work at all. I tried setting to custom to back up settings or separate stuff but that does not work. I thought I recalled you could do selective backups.
    Last edited by F2; 09-13-11 at 03:51 PM.
    09-13-11 03:25 PM
  14. louzer's Avatar
    I have not backed up in a while and am going to try doing it now. Will report back....

    Interesting. I can't get backup to work at all. I tried setting to custom to back up settings or separate stuff but that does not work. I thought I recalled you could do selective backups.
    Try doing a selective backup selecting only Media and Settings (and not App Data). This works for me. Also, what is the error you are seeing?
    09-13-11 07:38 PM
  15. FF22's Avatar
    Where do I find the Selective backup? I got some error - about 4 times.

    I'm trying again to capture the messages/screens. If I select Custom on options I cannot select sub-settings.
    09-13-11 08:08 PM
  16. louzer's Avatar
    It's the 'Custom' setting under 'Full' When I click the 'Custom' button, after about 3 minutes, I get either the error you saw or a list that says:

    Apps and Application Data
    Media
    Settings

    If I select Apps, I get a progress bar for about 4 minutes, then a message saying preparing to backup, and then the error message you see in the third pic.

    If I select the last two (Media and Settings), the backup works.

    I have a new Playbook that I simply wanted to switch to via the 'Switch Device' utility in DM. Since this first tries to do a full backup (including Apps and Application data), it fails giving me the same error as when I try to do a Custom backup with 'Apps'.

    I spent hours making a spreadsheet of apps I've installed along with if they were original (installed with the first OS), or installed via App World. Then I tried to delete a few that I thought could have been problematic. Finally, out of frustration, I deleted all of my apps except for the original batch. I connected my Playbook and, just for S&G, tried once more to do an App backup. Fail!

    So I just plugged in my new Playbook into my computer and am, as we speak, doing a restore of my media and settings from the old one. We'll see how that goes. I'm anticipating losing my podcasts as well as my bookmarks. We'll see what other extra work is now required for what should have been a simple 'Switch Devices' function.

    Grrrrrrrrrr.....
    09-13-11 11:37 PM
  17. FF22's Avatar
    That's where I thought the Selective Backup functions were but when I select Custom I get an error before it even "reads" the pb. So I don't get those selective choices.

    Maybe I have too many apps. But it sounds as if you removed them all to no avail.

    I do have a backup from June!
    09-14-11 12:47 AM
  18. MattBerry08's Avatar
    I actually have missed this thread (as a poll) but think this is a VERY useful process. I'd love to be able to back up and would rather not wait for some eternally pending update that fixes it. I too have a ton of apps - but haven't done a security wipe for the apathetic reason of "eh, it'll get fixed" but would love to. Anyone have backup error issues with FEW apps, that may be an easier place to start?

    thanks to OP
    09-14-11 01:22 AM
  19. louzer's Avatar
    OK. So I've only had this thing since the middle of April. There's data that I would have liked to keep, but, given few apps that I really finally started using on a regular basis in this short timeframe, I decided that with this situation, sooner is better than later.

    Maybe it's that people who got their Playbooks early also started downloading apps early. Maybe that some apps initially didn't register correctly so that it doesn't matter what update you're on (even if it fixed the installation error of a previous version). And maybe if I bit the bullet and took what I can get, I'd just do a backup of my Media and Settings, and just restore those to the new device.

    To do this, I used the DM to create a Custom backup with just the Media and Settings selected.

    Then, I power on the new device. I go through all of the initial setup. I enter my existing BBID email and password for the device. I set up my wifi and grab a coffee while the OS downloads. Once the download completes, my device reboots and there it is.

    Then I connect the new Playbook to my computer. The computer recognizes it and it connects within DM. I selct the backup file I just made, select it, and click Restore and select Complete (since Settings and Media are the only data types in that backup file). I go grab a Sam Adams and finally, the restore completes.

    Now on my 16gb Playobook, I open the Podcasts app. I open it on the new one too and manually add my subscribed podcasts from the 16gb to my 64gb Playbook (boy the app data would have come in handy!).

    Now I go back to the 16gb Playbook. Then comes the rough part. I go into App World and for each installed app, I delete. I systematically dismantle my Playbook. It felt kind of like Dave shutting down HAL in 2001. There sat my Playbook looking so... well... initial. So now I have a 64gb device with the Media and Settings backup restored from my computer and a stripped down 16gb Playbook.

    I go onto the new Playbook and open App World. It Asks me if I would like to transfer ownership of the App World account to the PIN for my new Playbook, and I press yes. In the Intalled Apps tab theres NFS, Tetris, NFB, Facebook and a few others. In the uninstalled tab are all of my apps that were installed on the old Playbook. I selected the File Browser app because it would show if paid apps transer over with the device when you switch. I install it and it downloads and works fine (love that app!). Then I downloaded each of the apps in my uninsatlled apps list that are listed in the OP's list of 'good' apps. Each installed.

    I open an email via Bridge from the 16gb Playbook. I swipe over to the Browser app. I create a new email to myself. For each bookmark in my list, I open the link, select the URL from the browser, swipe back to the email, and past the URL into the email. I send the email with all of the links for all of my bookmarks to myself. I close the Bridge and disconnect my Bold from the Bridge (after I see that the email sent and was received). On my Bold, I remove the named Playbook device. On the new Playbook, I go into the Bridge setup, click Add a device and my Bold's paired with the new Playbook. I open the Messages app and there's my email. I click on each link in the emai and selct the page as a bookmark. I do this for all the links in the emai.

    Now, my 64gb Playbook is set up just like my 16gb was. I have my bookmarks and my podcast subscriptions. I've lost some app data, but that's just the collateral damage. I've got a few apps installed and I'm ready to go. Then it hits me. I grab my new Plabook and connect the micro USB (DM is still running on my computer). DM recognizes the new Playbook and, just for S&G, I click Backup. Then I select Custom and I click on Applications and App Data. I screen pops up saying that it's preparing to back up. The progress bar is moving. And then, I see it! DM is backing up my App Data!

    It worked! I was able to move from one Playbook to another. It would have been nice if the 'Switch Devices' utility in DM actually worked. But the workaround, after all, wasn't that complex.:P
    kevin.gardiner likes this.
    09-14-11 02:18 AM
  20. FF22's Avatar
    But I can't even get to the Selective backup. But there are any number of apps that I've installed that could be removed and I probably would never miss them. Since the bookmarks are so immune to editing/organizing, I rarely even use the darn things - I just use my own tabular home page.
    09-14-11 08:44 AM
  21. trsbbs's Avatar
    When was the last time a bad program caused Windows to not backup?

    I had the same issue one or two DM version ago. They released a new version of DM and the issue was gone. No change in apps.

    Not saying it 100 percent couldn't be, but I will put money it's that DM is not handling
    something on the phone correctly during the backup.

    With new apps come different things. Things that RIM may not have anticipated and will need to
    correct in future versions of DM.

    Have you contacted RIM on this issue?

    Tim
    09-14-11 08:57 AM
  22. louzer's Avatar
    But I can't even get to the Selective backup. But there are any number of apps that I've installed that could be removed and I probably would never miss them. Since the bookmarks are so immune to editing/organizing, I rarely even use the darn things - I just use my own tabular home page.
    I have about half of my apps reinstalled. I have not done any updates yet. Out of the box, it's looking to update my NFS, Tetris, Facebook, and NFB. With about 15 apps reinstalled, I connected my Playbook to my computer. When I click 'Backup' the dialog box appears and the Apps, Media, and Settings populate with their stats fairly quickly (as opposed to searching for a couple of minutes then giving an error or telling me to continue. I selected Apps and the backup progress window appears and notifies me that it's preparing for backup and then a few seconds later begins. When I look at the logs, there are none of the errors that I saw reported previously.

    Now I'm updating the four Apps. When I'm done, I'll try a backup again and report.

    When you select Custom backup, are you getting the error with red text on that screen saying that there was an error getting the backup data? If so, when I saw this, I'd hit cancel and then hit 'Backup' again and the stats for Apps, Settings, and Media appeared. It was at this point that I was able to select the latter two for a backup.

    I'm also happy to see that all of my media was successfully backed up. The number of files and the total size of the Media folder on both devices was identical.
    09-14-11 01:15 PM
  23. louzer's Avatar
    When was the last time a bad program caused Windows to not backup?

    I had the same issue one or two DM version ago. They released a new version of DM and the issue was gone. No change in apps.

    Not saying it 100 percent couldn't be, but I will put money it's that DM is not handling
    something on the phone correctly during the backup.

    With new apps come different things. Things that RIM may not have anticipated and will need to
    correct in future versions of DM.

    Have you contacted RIM on this issue?

    Tim
    I have not contacted RIM. I've been basing off other people's responses from RIM on this as well as posts by RIM tech people in RIM's own forums which states that it's an acknowledged problem and their suggestion is to backup Media (they suggest not bothering with Settings), uninstall all apps, do a device refresh, restore the backup, and one-by-one reinstall the apps.

    As I said above, there were a few anomolies with regard to some initial version of installed apps as well as problems with updated apps leaving a legacy icon on the desktop. I think that by deleting the extraneous icons, somehow the data for registration of apps somehow got messed up.

    Since I'm having success with backups now and have not changed versions of DM since beginning this adventure, I have to assume that the OP of this post is correct in identifying the problem as 'bad apps' (in terms of what either occurred, didn't occur, or occurred incorrectly when they were installed/updated).
    09-14-11 01:22 PM
  24. trsbbs's Avatar
    I have not contacted RIM.
    Since I'm having success with backups now and have not changed versions of DM since beginning this adventure, I have to assume that the OP of this post is correct in identifying the problem as 'bad apps' (in terms of what either occurred, didn't occur, or occurred incorrectly when they were installed/updated).
    You should contact them as they need to be aware of the issue.

    It could also mean that the DM is not backing up something that was not present before.

    The app might be just fine, but that DM was not written to handle this app and that RIM needs to correct it before more apps have this issue.

    Just a thought...

    Tim
    09-14-11 01:50 PM
  25. louzer's Avatar
    You should contact them as they need to be aware of the issue.

    It could also mean that the DM is not backing up something that was not present before.

    The app might be just fine, but that DM was not written to handle this app and that RIM needs to correct it before more apps have this issue.

    Just a thought...

    Tim
    Sent an email to RIM support along with a copy of my DM logs showing the error and a link to this topic. But I truly believe that is has more to do with the device's early-stage OS and how it handled install/update/uninstall than it does with individual apps and DM.

    Despite the differences in functionality among all of the apps out there, the installer relies on a relatively small and simple XML file and treats apps similarly. So I don't think it has anything to do with the way the actual app is written. It has more to do with the way the app components are handeld by the installer.
    09-14-11 03:46 PM
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